The 2/39 and 4/39 Inf Bns of the 9th Infantry Division and the 1/11 ACR with elements of the 18th ARVN Division begin Operation QUICKSILVER in War Zone D against the 275th VC Regiment, Long Khanh Province, III CTZ.

After the 173d Airborne Brigade's sharp battle with the NVA on the 22nd, MACV reinforced the 4th Infantry Division to continue GREELEY and the Battle of Dak To. The rest of the 173d Airborne Brigade moved to Kontum along with the 3d Brigade, 11st Cavalry Division. The 4th Infantry established a forward TOC at Dak To to coordinate these units. Finally, the 5th and 8th ARVN Airborne Battalions plus a battalion from the 42d ARVN Regiment moved into the area. The 299th Engineer Battalion struggled through torrential rains to replace the blown bridges along QL 14 between Kontum and Dak To. At times Dak To had to subsist on aerial delivery for days on end. Aircraft crashed and burned with alarming regularity.

"Dak To itself had only been a command point for a combat without focus that tore a thirty-mile arc over the hills running northeast to southwest of thesmall base and airfield there from early November through Thanksgiving 1967, fighting that grew in size and fame while it grew more vicious and out of control." In October the small Dak To Special Forces compound had taken some mortar and rocket fire, patraols went out, patrols collided, companies splintered the action and spread it across the hills in a sequence of small isolated firefights that afterward were described as strategy; battalions weres sucked into it, then divisions, then reinforced divisions. Anyway, we knew for sure that we had a reinforced division in it, the 4th plus, nad we saidthey had one it it too, although alot of people believed that a couple of light flexible regiments could have done what the NVA did up and down those hills for three weeks, leaving us to claim we'd driven him up 1338, up 943, up 875 and 876, while th opposing claims remained mostly unspoken and probably unnecessary. And instead of relly ending, the battle vanished. The North Vietnamese collected up their gear and most of their dead and "disappeared" during the night, leaving a few bodies behind for our troops to kick and count."

__________________"This life..., you know, "the life." Youíre not gonna get any medals, kid. This is not a hero business; you donít shoot people from a mile a way. You gotta stand right next to them... blow their heads off."

Operation BUFFALO begins. It is one in a series of continuing 3d Marine Division operations in the DMZ. It claimed 1,281 enemy casualties while 159 Marines were KIA. BUFFALO followed CIMARRON and is followed by HICKORY II. Increasing artillery and rocket barrages against Marine fire bases were coupled with violent infantry clashes during this operation.

The NVA launched an assault on South Vietnam's only producing coal mine at Nong Son defended by Company F, 2d Battalion, 5th Marines. Friendly casualties were 13 killed an 43 wounded. Enemy casualties were 44 killed.

(Nong Son coal mine on mountain top outpost with F2/5 looking towards An-Hoa area 1967)

While conducting CORONADO I, the Mobile Riverine Force attacked an enemy base area about 4 miles northwest of Go Cong. A Popular Force battalion established a blocking positon to the west and helicopter gunship watched areas that could not be covered by ground unit. A riverine FSB was established on the Vam Co river. The MRF moved down the Vam Co to the Rach Go Cong River and inserted forces from the 3/47 and the 4/47 Inf onto 7 beaches. One company size CA was made onto a LZ COBRA. By 1800 the sweep had produced only minor skirmishes where 3 VC were KIA, 91 detained (later it was learned these were new VC recuits without weapons), and 2 weapons. The night ambushes encounted small VC units in several locations. On 5 July, US troops discovered cleverly disguished bunkers and spider holes in which the VC had hide the previous day. The operation ended on the 6th. Naval craft had stopped over 700 native watercraft. The MRF used helicopters to resupply directly from their support LSTs to the units. Ten Hueys were needed to resupply the two battalions. They also added helicopter landing pads 16 feet square on the first of several ATCs. OH-23s made the first landings on 4 July and then Hueys on the 5th. There were no US casualties but the VC suffered 66 KIAs and over 91 POWs

Radio Hanoi announced the death of four-star NVA general Nguyen Chi Thanh, reputed to be in charge of military operations in the RVN.

Quote:

Nguyen Chi Thanh (1914 - 1967) was from 1965 until his death the commanding general of North Vietnamese operations in South Vietnam. He presented plans for the Tet offensive to the North Vietnamese Politburo, but did not survive to see them put into action.

Radio Hanoi announced the death of four-star NVA general Nguyen Chi Thanh, reputed to be in charge of military operations in the RVN. (General Thanh is believed to have been killed during a B-52 raid)[/CENTER]

Operation MALHEUR II begins. This operation followed MALHEUR I as the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division conducted operations against NVA forces in the mountains west and northwest of Duc Pho. Friendly losses are 30 killed and 260 wounded, enemy losses are 488 killed.

Operation MARCH I initiated. This was a Project OMEGA reconnaissance mission for I Field Force Vietnam conducted in the Plei Trap Valley along the Cambodian border. It was followed by MARCH II and were the last of nine Project OMEGA operations. Following this the assets of Project OMEGA were transferred to MACV-SOG.

Operation PADDINGTON, a joint search and destroy operation, is conducted near Long Giao and Nui Dat by the 1st Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the 1st Australian Task Force, the 2nd and 7th Battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment, plus ARVN and VNMC units The six-day mission, designed to open VC dominated jungle, resulted in 93 VC killed.